apple-ipad posts

Nearly a year ago Epic Games shocked the game industry by announcing the release of the Unreal Development Kit, a free version of its Unreal Engine 3 game development tools that lets anyone create and release stand alone games for free or for commercial release (with Epic getting royalties on the commercial games of course).

This week, Epic Games's VP Mark Rein announced via his Twitter page that the UDK tools has had over 350,000 unique installs which Rein says, " ... is pretty amazing for a game engine like ours." There's already been a ton of PC stand alone games and demos that use the UDK as its basis and more are on the way. In addition, the UDK will soon support making games for Apple's iOS devices like the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Download Unreal Development Kit August 2010 Beta (790 MB)
Check out all Unreal Development Kit related Downloads

Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell is never shy about expressing his opinions. Now Wardell, the head of a company that publishes Windows-based PC games like Demigod, Sins of a Solar Empire and the upcoming Elemental along with the Windows PC-based game download service Impulse, sees a big threat to the OS where he makes most of his money from.

In a new editorial on the Impulsedriven.net site, Wardell states that after owning and using the recently launched iPad from Apple, " . . . I have to say that the iPad and other devices like it are going to murder large sections of the Windows based market. And as a Windows software developer, that doesn't make me happy." His reasons include faster performance and the iPad's "instant on" capabilities compared to Windows-based notebooks, saying, " . .. the iPad (and future devices of its class) are just much more convenient." The app store's features and its way to allow developers to make cool programs and charge money for them is also cited as a big advantage.

Wardell states if Microsoft doesn't try to address the problems with Windows in comparison to the iPad's features, " . . . I predict Windows will become purely a content creation device whose content is primarily consumed elsewhere." He adds, "The iPad is only the beginning. Once Android devices and WebOS devices show up, it could spell the beginning of the end of Windows dominance."

To the surprise of almost no one (except maybe Old Man McKinkle down the street from us) Apple made its introduction of the iPad today. It's basically a much bigger version of the iPod Touch with a 9.7 inch screen and can run most iPhone-iPod touch apps that are already out. However, Apple is also pushing the fact that developers can make apps specifically for the big-screen iPad including games. Two such titles were shown at the iPad debut today; a sci-fi FPS called N.O.V.A and a revamped version of the iPod Touch port of Need For Speed Shift.

So what is the iPad anyway? It's not designed to be a phone but the processor and OS that were revealed today don't seem to be on the high end of the PC laptop market either. Apple is promoting the device for gamers (indeed many gaming media outlets including our sister site Joystiq, were invited to the iPad unveiling today). But the iPad's big screen would certainly suggest that developers could make games that are more complex that the somewhat simplistic titles that mostly are on the iPhone/iPod Touch.